Grains of Golden Sand: Adventures in War-torn Africa

The author is a real-life version of Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Isac Dineson, rolled into one. This is a first-person account of a woman Peace Corps volunteer-turned-medical researcher-turned-veterinarian-turned-"missionary." Her mission was to save a small group of endangered great apes--the "bonobo"--from the grips of civil war in Zaire, the heart of Africa. She made this her mission, and after eight harrowing years the reader will be breathless with amazement in her struggles to get the endangered animals to safety. (This includes caring for a pregnant ape giving birth almost as the crate is being taken to the airport ... and almost preventing her final escape.)

Includes art-book quality illustrations throughout, including 16-page full-color insert.

Delfi Messinger is a real-life version of Amelia Earhart, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Isac Dineson, rolled into one. A zoologist and former Peace Corps volunteer, she lived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Zaire, for some 14 years.